Mobile wireless communications device including shared voice coil to provide hearing aid compatibility and related methods

ABSTRACT

A mobile wireless communications device is for use with a hearing aid including a hearing aid compatible (HAC) coil. The device may include a portable housing and a wireless receiver carried by the portable housing. The device may also include at least one image capture component and a positioning coil associated therewith and carried by the portable housing. A controller may also be carried by the portable housing for selectively operating the positioning coil for image capture, and for inductively coupling received signals from the wireless receiver to the HAC coil.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of Ser. No. 12/190,722 filed Aug. 13,2008, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,014,821 issued Sep. 6, 2011, which is basedupon prior filed provisional application Ser. No. 61/022,023 filed Jan.18, 2008, the entire subject matter of which is incorporated herein byreference in its entirety their entireties.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the field of communications systems,and, more particularly, to mobile wireless communications devices andrelated methods.

BACKGROUND

Cellular communications systems continue to grow in popularity and havebecome an integral part of both personal and business communications.Cellular telephones allow users to place and receive voice calls mostanywhere they travel. Moreover, as cellular telephone technology hasincreased, so too has the functionality of cellular devices and thedifferent types of devices available to users. For example, manycellular devices now incorporate personal digital assistant (PDA)features such as calendars, address books, task lists, etc. Moreover,such multi-function devices may also allow users to wirelessly send andreceive electronic mail (email) messages and access the Internet via acellular network and/or a wireless local area network (WLAN), forexample. Cameras have also been incorporated in cellular phones.

Even so, as the functionality of cellular communications devicescontinues to increase, so too does the demand for smaller devices whichare easier and more convenient for users to carry. One challenge thisposes for cellular device manufacturers is how to include all of thenecessary components to provide desired functionality within arelatively small form factor.

In addition to meeting desired consumer demands, other constraints mayalso be placed on mobile device manufacturers that may requireadditional components to be included within a device. For example, inthe U.S., pursuant to the Hearing Aid Compatibility (HAC) Act of 1988,the FCC requires cell phone makers to produce several models of devicesthat are designed to be compatible with hearing aids. FCC rules requirethat phones subject to the HAC Act: (1) produce a magnetic field ofsufficient strength and quality to permit coupling with hearing aidsthat contain telecoils; and (2) provide an adequate range of volume. Atelecoil is a small, tightly-wrapped piece of wire that, when activated,picks up the voice signal from the electromagnetic field generated bycompatible telephones. Users of telecoil-equipped hearing aids are ableto communicate effectively over the telephone without feedback andwithout the amplification of unwanted background noise.

A telephone that is hearing aid compatible often has a dedicatedinternal component, such as an HAC voice coil, that allows the use oftelephone-compatible hearing aids. This dedicated HAC coil may be inaddition to a receiver coil already present in the cellular phone. Yet,the inclusion of such an HAC coil in an already crowded space to meetthe bandpass and other requirements of the MAC standard can posesignificant challenges for cellular phone manufactures. As such, newtechniques may be desirable to provide compliance with applicablestandards, such as HAC standards (e.g., ANSI C63.19), without requiringlarger form factors on hand held devices that are undesirable to users.

One exemplary HAC compatible mobile phone system is set forth in U.S.Patent Pub. No. 2006/0126873 to Lee. This reference discloses anapparatus for generating a magnetic field in a portable wirelessterminal for a hearing impaired person. In the apparatus, an amplifieramplifies a voice-band electric signal received from a CODEC to apredetermined level, and a coil converts the amplified electric signalinto a corresponding magnetic signal. The coil is configured to generatethe magnetic signal sufficiently enough to allow a hearing impaired userwearing a hearing aid to make and receive calls with the portablewireless terminal.

Despite the existence of such systems, it may be desirable to providefurther functionality and space saving features in mobile wirelesscommunications devices that are hearing aid compatible.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an exemplary mobile wirelesscommunications device including a shared voice coil to provide HACcompatibility to a hearing aid.

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of an alternative embodiment of themobile wireless communications device of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a method of using a mobile wirelesscommunications device in accordance with an exemplary embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating additional componentswhich may be used in the mobile wireless communications device of FIG. 1or 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The present description is made with reference to the accompanyingdrawings, in which preferred embodiments are shown. However, manydifferent embodiments may be used, and thus the description should notbe construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather,these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thoroughand complete. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout, and primenotation is used to indicate similar elements in alternate embodiments.

Generally speaking, the present disclosure is directed to a mobilewireless communications device for use with a hearing aid comprising ahearing aid compatible (HAC) coil, the mobile wireless communicationsdevice which may include a portable housing, a wireless receiver carriedby the portable housing, and at least one image capture component and apositioning coil associated therewith and carried by the portablehousing. The device may further include a controller carried by theportable housing for selectively operating the positioning coil forimage capture, and for inductively coupling received signals from thewireless receiver to the HAC coil.

More particularly, the at least one image capture component may includea camera lens, and the positioning coil may be an autofocus voice coil.Furthermore, the device may also include a charge coupled device (CCD)cooperating with the controller for capturing an image received via thecamera lens. The controller may further include a bias circuit forbiasing the positioning coil between an image capture equilibriumposition, and an HAC coil coupling equilibrium position different thanthe image capture equilibrium position.

The mobile wireless communications device may also include an audiospeaker carried by the portable housing adjacent the positioning coil.Furthermore, the device may also include a printed circuit board (PCB)carried by the portable housing and carrying the audio output speakerand the positioning coil on a same side of the PCB. Additionally, thecontroller may selectively disable the audio output speaker.

The device may additionally include a wireless transmitter carried bythe portable housing. By way of example, the wireless receiver and thewireless transmitter may be a cellular receiver and a cellulartransmitter, respectively.

A related method for operating a mobile wireless communications device,such as the one described briefly above, may include selectivelyoperating the positioning coil for image capture and for inductivelycoupling received signals from the wireless receiver to a hearing aidcompatible (RAG) coil of a hearing aid.

Referring initially to FIG. 1, a mobile wireless communications device30 is for use with a hearing aid 50 including a housing 51 and a hearingaid compatible (HAC) coil 56 carried thereby. The device 30illustratively includes a portable housing 31, and a wireless receiver29 and associated antenna 34 carried by the portable housing. The device30 also illustratively includes at least one image capture component 36(e.g., camera lens, charge coupled device, etc.) and a positioning coil37 (e.g., a voice coil) associated therewith and carried by the portablehousing 31, as will be discussed further below. In addition, acontroller 32 is also illustratively carried by the portable housing 31for selectively operating the positioning coil 37 for image capture andfor inductively coupling received signals from the wireless receiver 29to the HAC coil 56.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 2, in accordance with an exemplaryembodiment a mobile cellular device 30′ illustratively includes theportable, handheld housing 31′ and a controller implemented with aprocessor 32′. As used herein, “processor” in meant to include hardware(e.g., microprocessor, memory, etc.) and/or software components used toimplement the noted functions, as will also be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art. Furthermore, a wireless transceiver (e.g., cellulartransceiver) 33′ and associated antenna(s) 34′ (e.g., external antennainternal conductive trace antenna, etc.) is also carried by the housing31′. The transceiver 33′ is controlled by an audio module 40′ of theprocessor 32′, and received audio signals are output by an outputtransducer, such as the illustrated speaker 35′, as will be appreciatedby those skilled in the art. It will be appreciated, however, thatwireless formats other than cellular (e.g., Bluetooth and/or 802.11wireless LAN, etc.) may also be used.

The wireless communications device 30′ also advantageously includes acamera including a camera lens 60′ and associated autofocus actuatorcircuitry 38′ for the autofocus a voice coil 37′. The actuator circuitry38′ is illustratively controlled by an output (Focus) from the processor32′. A charge-coupled device (CCD) 61′ or other image sensing devicecooperates with the processor 32′ for capturing and digitizing theanalog input received through the camera lens 60′, as will also beappreciated by those skilled in the art.

In the illustrated embodiment, a hearing aid 50′ is used with thecellular device 30′ and includes a housing 51′, a hearing aid processor52′ carried by the housing, and an input transducer such as a microphone53′ connected to the hearing aid processor. During normal operation(i.e., when not used with a phone), audio input received by themicrophone 53′ is processed and output by the hearing aid processor 52′to an output transducer, such as a speaker 54′, for a hearing aid user'sear, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. The hearing aid50′ also illustratively includes a magnetic switch 55′ (e.g., a reedswitch) and a telecoil 56′ to provide RAC operating capabilities. Moreparticularly, the switch 55′ is actuated upon being placed in closeproximity to a magnetic field generated by an HAC compliant wirelessdevice, which causes the hearing aid processor 52′ to switch from themicrophone 53′ to the telecoil 56′ as the input source, as noted above.

To advantageously conserve resources and space within the housing 31′ ofthe cellular device 30′, which is typically at a premium as discussedabove, while still providing HAC compliance, the voice coil 37′ of theautofocus circuitry 38′ is advantageously used for both autofocus of thecamera lens 60′ and for providing the requisite magnetic output toachieve desired HAC bandpass performance. More particularly, by sharingthe voice coil 37′ of the autofocus circuitry 38′ to also provide therequisite magnetic output during an HAC telephone call, the device 30′advantageously need not include yet another dedicated HAC coil, as isoften required in prior art configurations. Accordingly, significantsavings in space and potentially component cost may be achieved.

The voice coil-based autofocus circuitry 38′ may advantageously belocated in the vicinity of the output speaker 35′, for example. Thevoice coil 38′ may be accessed directly via an HAC output of theprocessor 32′ when making an HAC phone call to boost the magnetic fieldcoupling to the hearing aid. This typically will not affect the cameraautofocus function, as the camera is generally not being used during aphone call when the device 30′ is held up to the user's ear. If thisproves to be an issue, the voice signal may be momentarily disabled whenthe camera is in use. For example, in some situations a user may movethe camera away from his head to take a picture, but the other callparticipant might keep speaking, which could otherwise prevent theautofocus from working. Thus, momentarily disabling the voice coil mayalleviate this problem. The disabling operation may be performedautomatically by the processor 32′ upon selection of the camera mode forimage capture, and/or manually by the user through a user interface,keypad/button actuation, etc. Moreover, in some embodiments an AC voicesignal may potentially be used on the autofocus feature since it uses aDC voltage signal, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

Turning now to an exemplary implementation, tests were conducted on acamera autofocus voice coil module (AF VCM) and the following resultswere obtained. The electrical impedance was relatively flat at about 30Ohms throughout the entire telephony audio frequency range of 300 to3400 Hz, which was consistent with the specification for the voice coilDC resistance. There was no observed impedance peak due to a mechanicalresonance as is the case with a typical speaker, even though the VCMspecification indicated it was an underdamped system with a resonance ofaround 85 Hz. The impedance rose at higher frequencies due to the coilinductance (just like any other speaker) and agreed reasonably well withthe ratio of DC resistance to inductance. The tests also demonstratedthat the magnetic frequency response was relatively flat (as suggestedby the impedance curve), which fits the HAC mask (i.e., ANSI C63.19) tothereby provide desired HAC compliance in typical configurations.

In some embodiments of the above configuration, it may be possible tohave undesirable audible sounds or clicking, especially at lowerfrequencies. Applicants speculate, without wishing to be bound thereto,that this may be due to the lens 60′ equilibrium position (i.e., animage capture equilibrium position) being at one end, and so the ACvoltage signal might force the coil 37′ against a stop. This may be lessof an issue at higher frequencies (e.g., above resonance) where themotion of a voice coil drops off at about 12 dB (displacement) peroctave. In this regard, the processor 32′ may include a DC bias module41′ so that the coil 37′ may be driven with an AC signal whilesimultaneously applying a DC voltage to move the lens 60′ to a newequilibrium position (i.e., an MAC coil coupling equilibrium position)to control the lens position and thereby reduce the clicking noise.Different polarities may be more useful in this regard than others, aswill be appreciated by those skilled in the art.

Thus, the device 30′ may advantageously utilize such a DC offset voltageto reduce possible undesired audible noise, as well as to protect thecoil 37′ from damage due to “slamming” it against the stop. In someembodiments, it may be possible to use a VCM with a differentequilibrium position, e.g., in the middle away from the stop. This DCvoltage could also potentially move the voice coil to a differentequilibrium position closer to the user, thereby increasing the magneticfield, depending on the orientation of the voice coil as well as whichend provides the equilibrium position.

In some embodiments there may be a distance penalty if the voice coil37′ is located on an opposite side of a device printed circuit board(PCB) 62′ from the speaker 35′. As such, it may generally be desirableto keep the voice coil 37′ as close to the speaker 35′ as possible andon a same side of the PCB 62′, although this may not be necessary in allembodiments depending upon the particular components used, theconfiguration, and the applicable targeted specifications. Depending onthe given embodiment, the voice coil 37′ may be used by itself, if it isstrong enough, or to enhance the magnetic field from the speaker 35′.That is, the voice coil 37′ may be used alone or to enhance the speaker35′ magnetic signal to achieve desired BAC bandpass performance, as willbe appreciated by those skilled in the art. One situation where it mightbe used alone is if there is no magnetic field generated by the speaker35′, for example, if a piezoelectric type speaker is used. Anothersituation could be when the user wishes to disable the speaker 35′ sothat there is no acoustic output, only magnetic, such as for enhancedprivacy. That is, the processor 32′ may selectively disable the speaker35′ based upon a user input such as through a user interface orkeypad/button, for example, for enhanced privacy, etc.

A related method for operating a mobile wireless communications device,such as the cellular device 30′ set forth above, is now described withreference to FIG. 3. The method illustratively begins (Block 70) with adetermination as to how the voice coil 37′ is to be used, i.e., forimage capture (e.g., in a camera mode) or for inductively couplingreceived signals to the HAC telecoil 56′ of the hearing aid 50′ (i.e.,in an audio mode), at Block 71. In the case of image capture (i.e.,camera mode), the audio output speaker 35′ may optionally be disabledand the voice coil 37′ optionally biased to the image captureequilibrium position, at Blocks 72-73, as described above, so that thevoice coil may advantageously be selectively operated for image capture,at Block 74, as described above, thus concluding the illustrated method(Block 75). Otherwise, if the voice coil 37′ is to be used for audiooutput, it may optionally be biased to the HAC coil coupling equilibriumposition, at Block 76, for inductively coupling received signals fromthe cellular transceiver 33′ to the HAC telecoil 56′ (Block 77), as alsodiscussed above. It should be noted that in the same embodiments thevoice coil 37′ may revert to the equilibrium positions (e.g., the imagecapture equilibrium position), so biasing would only be necessary whenthe other mode of operation is used, as will be appreciated by thoseskilled in the art.

Turning now to FIG. 4, exemplary components of a hand-held mobilewireless communications device 1000 in which the above-described HACcompatible system may be used are further described. The device 1000illustratively includes a housing 1200, a keypad 1400 and an outputdevice 1600. The output device shown is a display 1600, which ispreferably a full graphic LCD. Other types of output devices mayalternatively be utilized. A processing device 1800 is contained withinthe housing 1200 and is coupled between the keypad 1400 and the display1600. The processing device 1800 controls the operation of the display1600, as well as the overall operation of the mobile device 1000, inresponse to actuation of keys on the keypad 1400 by the user. Thehousing 1200 may be elongated vertically, or may take on other sizes andshapes (including clamshell housing structures). The keypad may includea mode selection key, or other hardware or software for switchingbetween text entry and telephony entry.

In addition to the processing device 1800, other parts of the mobiledevice 1000 are shown schematically in FIG. 4. These include acommunications subsystem 1001; a short-range communications subsystem1020; the keypad 1400 and the display 1600, along with otherinput/output devices 1060, 1080, 1100 and 1120; as well as memorydevices 1160, 1180 and various other device subsystems 1201. The mobiledevice 1000 is preferably a two-way RF communications device havingvoice and data communications capabilities. In addition, the mobiledevice 1000 preferably has the capability to communicate with othercomputer systems via the Internet.

Operating system software executed by the processing device 1800 ispreferably stored in a persistent store, such as the flash memory 1160,but may be stored in other types of memory devices, such as a read onlymemory (ROM) or similar storage element. In addition, system software,specific device applications, or parts thereof, may be temporarilyloaded into a volatile store, such as the random access memory (RAM)1180. Communications signals received by the mobile device may also bestored in the RAM 1180.

The processing device 1800, in addition to its operating systemfunctions, enables execution of software applications 1300A-1300N on thedevice 1000. A predetermined set of applications that control basicdevice operations, such as data and voice communications 1300A and1300B, may be installed on the device 1000 during manufacture. Inaddition, a personal information manager (PIM) application may beinstalled during manufacture. The PIM is preferably capable oforganizing and managing data items, such as e-mail, calendar events,voice mails, appointments, and task items. The PIM application is alsopreferably capable of sending and receiving data items via a wirelessnetwork 1401. Preferably, the PIM data items are seamlessly integrated,synchronized and updated via the wireless network 1401 with the deviceuser's corresponding data items stored or associated with a hostcomputer system.

Communication functions, including data and voice communications, areperformed through the communications subsystem 1001, and possiblythrough the short-range communications subsystem. The communicationssubsystem 1001 includes a receiver 1500, a transmitter 1520, and one ormore antennas 1540 and 1560. In addition, the communications subsystem1001 also includes a processing module, such as a digital signalprocessor (DSP) 1580, and local oscillators (LOs) 1601. The specificdesign and implementation of the communications subsystem 1001 isdependent upon the communications network in which the mobile device1000 is intended to operate. For example, a mobile device 1000 mayinclude a communications subsystem 1001 designed to operate with theMobitex™, Data TAC™ or General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) mobile datacommunications networks, and also designed to operate with any of avariety of voice communications networks, such as AMPS, TDMA, CDMA,WCDMA, PCS, GSM, EDGE, etc. Other types of data and voice networks, bothseparate and integrated, may also be utilized with the mobile device1000. The mobile device 1000 may also be compliant with othercommunications standards such as 3GSM, 3GPP, UMTS, etc.

Network access requirements vary depending upon the type ofcommunication system. For example, in the Mobitex and DataTAC networks,mobile devices are registered on the network using a unique personalidentification number or PIN associated with each device. In GPRSnetworks, however, network access is associated with a subscriber oruser of a device. A GPRS device therefore requires a subscriber identitymodule, commonly referred to as a SIM card, in order to operate on aGPRS network.

When required network registration or activation procedures have beencompleted, the mobile device 1000 may send and receive communicationssignals over the communication network 1401. Signals received from thecommunications network 1401 by the antenna 1540 are routed to thereceiver 1500, which provides for signal amplification, frequency downconversion, filtering, channel selection, etc., and may also provideanalog to digital conversion. Analog-to-digital conversion of thereceived signal allows the DSP 1580 to perform more complexcommunications functions, such as demodulation and decoding. In asimilar manner, signals to be transmitted to the network 1401 areprocessed (e.g. modulated and encoded) by the DSP 1580 and are thenprovided to the transmitter 1520 for digital to analog conversion,frequency up conversion, filtering, amplification and transmission tothe communication network 1401 (or networks) via the antenna 1560.

In addition to processing communications signals, the DSP 1580 providesfor control of the receiver 1500 and the transmitter 1520. For example,gains applied to communications signals in the receiver 1500 andtransmitter 1520 may be adaptively controlled through automatic gaincontrol algorithms implemented in the DSP 1580.

In a data communications mode, a received signal, such as a text messageor web page download, is processed by the communications subsystem 1001and is input to the processing device 1800. The received signal is thenfurther processed by the processing device 1800 for an output to thedisplay 1600, or alternatively to some other auxiliary I/O device 1060.A device user may also compose data items, such as e-mail messages,using the keypad 1400 and/or some other auxiliary I/O device 1060, suchas a touchpad, a rocker switch, a thumb-wheel, or some other type ofinput device. The composed data items may then be transmitted over thecommunications network 1401 via the communications subsystem 1001.

In a voice communications mode, overall operation of the device issubstantially similar to the data communications mode, except thatreceived signals are output to a speaker 1100, and signals fortransmission are generated by a microphone 1120. Alternative voice oraudio I/O subsystems, such as a voice message recording subsystem, mayalso be implemented on the device 1000. In addition, the display 1600may also be utilized in voice communications mode, for example todisplay the identity of a calling party, the duration of a voice call,or other voice call related information.

The short-range communications subsystem enables communication betweenthe mobile device 1000 and other proximate systems or devices, whichneed not necessarily be similar devices. For example, the short-rangecommunications subsystem may include an infrared device and associatedcircuits and components, or a Bluetooth™ communications module toprovide for communication with similarly-enabled systems and devices.

Many modifications and other embodiments will come to the mind of oneskilled in the art having the benefit of the teachings presented in theforegoing descriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it isunderstood that various modifications and embodiments, are intended tobe included within the scope of the appended claims.

1. An electronic device for use with a hearing aid comprising a hearingaid compatible (HAC) coil, the electronic device comprising: a housing;circuitry carried by said housing; at least one image capture componentand a positioning coil associated therewith and carried by said housing;and a controller carried by said housing and configured to selectivelyoperate said positioning coil for image capture, and to inductivelycouple signals from said circuitry to the HAC coil.
 2. The electronicdevice of claim 1 wherein said at least one image capture componentcomprises a camera lens; and wherein said positioning coil comprises anautofocus voice coil.
 3. The electronic device of claim 2 furthercomprising a charge coupled device (CCD) configured to cooperate withsaid controller for capturing an image received via said camera lens. 4.The electronic device of claim 1 wherein said controller furthercomprises a bias circuit configured to bias said positioning coilbetween an image capture equilibrium position, and an HAC coil couplingequilibrium position different than the image capture equilibriumposition.
 5. The electronic device of claim 1 further comprising anaudio speaker carried by said housing adjacent said positioning coil. 6.The electronic device of claim 5 further comprising a printed circuitboard (PCB) carried by said housing and carrying said audio speaker andsaid positioning coil on a same side of said PCB.
 7. The electronicdevice of claim 5 wherein said controller is configured to selectivelydisable said audio speaker.
 8. The electronic device of claim 1 whereinsaid circuitry comprises a wireless receiver and a wireless transmitter.9. The electronic device of claim 8 wherein said wireless receiver andsaid wireless transmitter comprise a cellular receiver and a cellulartransmitter, respectively.
 10. An electronic device for use with ahearing aid comprising a hearing aid compatible (HAC) coil, theelectronic device comprising: a housing; cellular circuitry carried bysaid housing; a camera lens and an autofocus voice coil associatedtherewith and carried by said housing; and a controller carried by saidhousing and configured to selectively operate said autofocus coil, andto inductively couple signals from said cellular circuitry to the HACcoil.
 11. The electronic device of claim 10 further comprising a chargecoupled device (CCD) configured to cooperate with said controller forcapturing an image received via said camera lens.
 12. The electronicdevice of claim 10 wherein said controller further comprises a biascircuit configured to bias said positioning coil between an imagecapture equilibrium position, and an HAC coil coupling equilibriumposition different than the image capture equilibrium position.
 13. Theelectronic device of claim 10 further comprising an audio speakercarried by said housing adjacent said positioning coil.
 14. Theelectronic device of claim 13 further comprising a printed circuit board(PCB) carried by said housing and carrying said audio speaker and saidpositioning coil on a same side of said PCB.
 15. The electronic deviceof claim 13 wherein said controller is configured to selectively disablesaid audio speaker.
 16. A method for operating an electronic devicecomprising circuitry, and at least one image capture component and apositioning coil associated therewith, the method comprising:selectively operating the positioning coil for image capture and forinductively coupling signals from the circuitry to a hearing aidcompatible (HAC) coil of a hearing aid.
 17. The method of claim 16wherein the at least one image capture component comprises a cameralens; and wherein the positioning coil comprises an autofocus voicecoil.
 18. The method of claim 16 further comprising biasing thepositioning coil between an image capture equilibrium position, and anHAC coil coupling equilibrium position different than the image captureequilibrium position.
 19. The method of claim 16 wherein the electronicdevice further comprises an audio speaker; and further comprisingselectively disabling the audio speaker.